Over little more than five weeks, Guardian writers have followed every step of England’s 2025 Rugby World Cup journey from the opening match at the Stadium of Light to the final at Twickenham. Here are our favourite pictures coupled with excerpts from our match reports and blogs.
Game 1: Pool A
22 August, Stadium of Light, Sunderland
England 69 Tries Kabeya, Botterman, Muir, Kildunne (2), Dow, Cokayne, Breach (2), Atkin-Davies (2) Cons Harrison (6), Sing
USA 7 Try Jarrell-Searcy Con: Hawkins
The two teams take to the pitch for the opening match of the tournament. Photograph above: Tom Jenkins/The Guardian
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The crowd for this opening game was bigger than the combined attendance for the entire tournament in 2010 and, from watching it, you would bet World Rugby spent more on the fireworks that were let loose from the stadium roof in the minutes before kick-off than it did staging that entire edition of the competition.
No wonder Marlie Packer and Emily Scarratt and a couple of England’s other older players made a point of taking a moment for a slow walk around the ground before the team warm-up, just to soak in the moment. The game has come a long way even since they first played. No one who has been in the sport for any length of time seems quite able to believe it, even World Rugby’s higher-ups seem to be a bit bewildered by just how popular the women’s game has become all of a sudden.
The question hanging over the team is exactly how they will cope with the occasion given they have never really had to deal with this much attention and expectation. Well, nothing in rugby serves to settle the nerves like a good maul, and the Red Roses rolled out a couple at the first good chance they had. Sadia Kabeya scored off the second, and their World Cup was off and running. Andy Bull
Game 2: Pool A
30 August, Franklin’s Gardens, Northampton
England 92 Tries Jones 2, Breach 3, Bern, Feaunati, Atkin-Davies, L Packer, Clifford, Carson, Rowland, M Packer, Moloney-MacDonald Cons Rowland 11
Samoa 3 Pens Vatau
Jess Breach runs clear of the Samoa defence. Photograph above: Tom Jenkins/The Guardian
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In a David v Goliath match, the giants England won a brutal encounter against Samoa which displayed the disparity between the nations as 11 of the Red Roses shared 14 tries in a colossal win. Half of Samoa’s squad had to fundraise to be able to attend this Rugby World Cup with no contracts in place, and some have taken unpaid leave from their jobs to represent their country. England, on the other hand, have been professional for more than five years and have now swept aside their opponents in 59 of their last 60 matches, that one loss coming in the last World Cup final.
Among the try scorers as England reached the quarter-finals was the hat-trick heroine Jess Breach, and the first try was a special one for the 27-year-old as it was her 50th for her country. Breach is only the fifth Red Roses player to score 50 tries, after Sue Day, Nicky Crawford, Emily Scarratt and Marlie Packer. The centre Meg Jones got on the board twice and had not been in the starting XV at the beginning of this week, but an injury to Scarratt led to her promotion. The Cardiff-born centre’s contributions across the pitch were outstanding as her prowess in an England shirt only grows. Another bright spark for England was player-of-the-match Helena Rowland’s kicking from the tee. Sarah Rendell
Game 3: Pool A
6 September, Brighton & Hove Stadium
England 47 Tries Breach, Ward, Kabeya 2, Clifford 2, Bern Cons Harrison 6
Australia 7 Try Talakai Con Wood
Siokapesi Palu of Australia attempts to go past Rosie Galligan and Alex Matthews of England. Photograph above: Gaspafotos/MB Media/Getty Images
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Tense. Gripping. A proper Test match. Australia put England under the most pressure they have faced in a long time with a superb first-half performance but the Red Roses pulled away in the second half to seal top spot and a quarter-final against Scotland.
The victory was also England’s 30th in a row, equalling their own world record set at the last World Cup. The eventual 47-7 scoreline was not a true reflection of what a battle this final Pool A match was, with Jo Yapp’s Australia executing a successful kicking game to put the Red Roses under huge pressure in the opening half an hour. England did not lead until the 33rd minute and Australia got some reward for their efforts, the result meaning they qualify for the last eight and a meeting with Canada.
While the errors made by England will be a worry, what may cause more concern are the injuries sustained to key players in the brutal encounter. Ellie Kildunne was substituted when showing concussion symptoms and will not play in the quarter-final, while Hannah Botterman went off with an acute back spasm. Morwenna Talling also came off for a head injury assessment but passed and is expected to be available for selection. It was another dominant scoreline but opponents who come next will know there are ways to put dents in England’s armour. Sarah Rendell
Game 4: Quarter-final
14 September, Ashton Gate, Bristol
England 40 Tries Clifford 2, Talling, Dow, Cokayne, Aitchison Cons Aitchison 5
Scotland 8 Try Lloyd Pen Nelson
Morwenna Talling of England claims a lineout. Photograph above: Tom Jenkins/The Guardian
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Roses are red, Scotland in blue, the stakes are rising, how will they do? The scoreboard answer from a soaking wet Bristol was predictable enough. When bookmakers start quoting 1,000-1 on for a team to win a two‑horse race, the chances of England failing to reach the semi‑finals were roughly on a par with anyone in the stands getting sunstroke. Yet would you absolutely put your mortgage on England hoisting the World Cup in just under a fortnight?
Based on the evidence of this particular game, despite the comfortable victory margin and difficult conditions, you may just be inclined to hold fire. The occasionally underrated Morwenna Talling deserved her award for player of the match while Kelsey Clifford, in for the injured Hannah Botterman, also took her starting chance with both hands. Her two no-nonsense first-half tries will have particularly delighted everyone at her first club, Finchley RFC, where her father introduced her to rugby at the age of six. Then there is that fleet-footed marvel Abby Dow, who scored her 50th Test try and played with her usual dash and energy.
Maybe it won’t matter when Ellie Kildunne is back. Maybe their mighty pack and extraordinary strength in depth will wear down all-comers and the holy grail will be secured for the first time since 2014. But just maybe England’s future opponents still have a tiny sniff. Robert Kitson
Game 5: Semi-final
20 September, Ashton Gate, Bristol
France 17 Tries Konde 2, Arbey Cons Bourgeois
England 35 Tries Kildunne 2, Cokayne, Ward, Jones Cons Harrison 5
Ellie Kildunne takes a moment to play the drums after England’s victory against France. Photograph above: Tom Jenkins/The Guardian
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Hang on to your cowboy hats. England are into the Rugby World Cup final against Canada and the tournament organisers can breathe again. Had the Red Roses slipped up in the semis, the prospect of a finale likely to yield a record TV audience in Quebec was not quite the dream scenario they had been praying for. But, goodness, the Red Roses made their fans perspire at times.
At no stage did France ever back down and, without two scintillating tries from their curly haired golden girl Ellie Kildunne, England might have had a far less enjoyable afternoon. The final scoreline does not reflect how tight the game was for lengthy periods, nor the costly chances that France were crucially unable to convert.
Kildunne is certainly box office in anybody’s language. From the opening minutes she was already dancing and skipping past a host of defenders, clearly keen to make up for lost time having been forced to sit out the Scotland game. And then, courtesy of a loose ruck ball which should have resulted in England being penalised for accidental offside, the recent world player of the year was handed another opportunity just on halfway. Away she surged and, 50 metres later, the gleeful dive behind the posts mirrored the joy around most of the stadium. Her second-half effort, also from more than 40m and involving a diagonal surge past more powerless opponents, brought the house down again at a stage of the game when England needed a fresh spark from somewhere. Because, let’s face it, if you keep Kildunne quiet and shut down England’s scrum and maul, the Red Roses can look rather more mortal than they would like.
England’s steely defence, though, bails them out of tight corners on a regular basis. Before this game the highest number of points they had conceded in a single match all tournament was eight against Scotland. England’s bench depth also remains another obvious plus. They have the luxury of replacing one outstanding front row with another and, once again, their finishers added a significant gloss to the scoreboard. But will it be enough for them to win the game of their lives? Robert Kitson
Game 6: The final
27 September, Allianz Stadium, Twickenham
Canada 13 Tries Hogan-Rochester; Pen De Goede
England 33 Tries Kildunne, Cokayne, Matthews 2, Ward; Cons Harrison 4
Red Roses fans cheer the England team as they conduct a lap of honour. Photograph above: Tom Jenkins/The Guardian
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They think it’s all over. And finally, for England’s women, it is now. The last time the Red Roses lifted the World Cup was 11 years ago and defeat on home turf in front of a world-record 81,885 crowd would have been beyond devastating. Hence the tears of relief and shared collective joy at the final whistle as they brought the big one home.
Among other things this trophy has brought them the validation they dearly wanted and, in truth, needed. Since the introduction of full-time professional contracts in 2019, the Red Roses have won 74 of the 76 matches they have contested. The number of registered female participants in Canadian rugby would barely fill half of England’s towering citadel.
This was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity the hosts simply could not afford to squander and their pack, in particular, enthusiastically grabbed it with both hands. When it mattered England delivered by some distance their most convincing 80-minute performance and all the angst of past failures melted away. English rugby has spent years hailing the boys of 2003 and they now have some fresher-faced, modern-day competition.
Even the celebs wanted a piece of it all. Justin “Red” Rose sent a message from the Ryder Cup, the Lioness Lucy Bronze was in the crowd and royal best wishes arrived from the palace. Shania Twain, sadly, had a prior engagement and couldn’t make it but, most important of all, Canada turned up big-time out on the field. When they scored the afternoon’s first try through Asia Hogan-Rochester, the same thought flashed through the mind of every English fan. They couldn’t, could they?
It was just as well that England had their shaggy-haired secret weapon lying in wait. If any further proof were required, after her brace of semi-final tries, Ellie Kildunne has rocket boosters in her specially designed white boots and four or five would-be tacklers were left in her wake as she swerved and surged away to register a quite brilliant individual score. “Kildunne and dusted” read a handwritten sign in the crowd, but it was still way too early to relax.
Unfortunately for Canada, it was also only half the story. Canada could have enlisted every strapping lumberjack in British Columbia and still wouldn’t have stopped the inevitable rumbles that laid the platform for England’s second and third tries and, later on, the two crucial second-half scrum penalties that snuffed out Canada’s comeback. Every time the physical effort took a little bit more out of the legs of Canada’s forwards and made it that little bit harder for them to gallop freely elsewhere.
Canada’s gallant mini-fightback, in the circumstances, was even more praiseworthy. For this World Cup they have had to launch a million-dollar crowdfunding drive, supported by among others the Canadian band the Tragically Hip. By the time the next tournament comes around in Australia in 2029, you can only hope that more women’s teams are better funded and more sides are in a position to challenge England’s supreme queens. Robert Kitson
The Red Roses Champions Party
28 September, Battersea power station
The England players among their joyous fans. Photograph above: Ben Whitley/PA
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The euphoria and unbridled joy that has been a hallmark of the Women’s Rugby World Cup shone through the rain on Sunday as thousands of England fans gathered to celebrate the Red Roses’ victory.
Young girls and women were out in force to cheer on the victory party at Battersea power station, just as they had been at the Allianz Stadium when a world-record crowd of 81,885 watched England beat Canada 33-13.
While a few players were a little bleary eyed – hardly a surprise given that some only called it a night at 6.30am on Sunday – there was little sign of a drop in energy levels as the team led a series of singalongs and revelled in their glory before posing for selfies with supporters … after a tournament that has shattered records and misconceptions, and attracted millions of new fans, the sport as well as England’s players deserve to have a few days to celebrate. Sean Ingle
